Arizona Baseball pitching coach Nate Yeskie brings CWS experience

With Arizona Baseball heading to their 18th College World Series, pitching coach Nate Yeskie brings valuable experience to the Wildcats. 

While the 2021 baseball season is winding down, however, the action is heating up for Arizona Baseball as the Wildcats are set to appear in their 18th College World Series. With only the top teams remaining, pitching coach Nate Yeskie will bring valuable experience to the tournament.

Considered to be one of the best assistant coaches in college baseball, Yeskie joined the Wildcats in 2020 after a long and illustrious career spent with Oregon State where he won a National Championship in 2018 and was named the Pitching Coach of the Year in 2017 by Collegiate Baseball.

Arizona Wildcats

His presence alone has helped Arizona’s pitching improve this season. As a team, the Wildcats have a combined 4.43 ERA, 572 strikeouts, all while holding their opponents to just a .256 batting average. A stark contrast from 2019 when Arizona had a 6.23 ERA with 409 strikeouts and a .287 opponent batting average.

While Yeskie’s postseason experience and pitching prowess have been welcomed at Arizona thus far, there is still plenty of work to do for this group.

Keep in mind, the current roster does not have anyone that has played with the Wildcats in the postseason until this year, let alone a College World Series Tournament.

That’s where Nate Yeskie’s presence will come in handy. He’s been here before, he’s seen what it takes to win it all, and at minimum that should give the Wildcats a bit of an edge.

However, the road won’t be easy for the Wildcats. Coming in, Arizona Baseball will have a daunting road ahead of them as they first square off with Vanderbilt and their elite pitching staff this weekend. The Commodores likely have two Top 6 picks in the upcoming MLB Draft with Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker.

To me, Vanderbilt seems like the logical choice to potentially win it all after they won in 2019, however, the Wildcats have arguably the best offense in College Baseball, and the team seems to be peaking at the right time.

With the Wildcats’ bats and Coach Yeskie’s College World Series experience, perhaps Arizona could surprise everyone!